Saskatchewan, New Brunswick alone in April job growth
May 11, 2021
The two provinces with the lowest housing costs in Canada were also the only ones to post higher job numbers in April compared to March .
Saskatchewan was the only province in the West to create more new jobs in April as the province’s unemployment rate fell to the lowest level in the country—tied with Quebec at 6.6 per cent
New Brunswick was the only province east of the Prairies to generate jobs—4,100 more workers in April than a month earlier. This translates to a drop in the province's unemployment rate from 9.2 per cent in March to 8.5 per cent in April, lower than a year earlier.
Alberta and Ontario both lost jobs during the month and are now tied for the second-highest unemployment rate in the country—9.9 per cent.
Nationally, Statistics Canada’s April 2021 Labour Force Survey showed a major deterioration in the jobs market by nearly any metric following third-wave Covid containment measures.
Employment fell by 207,100 (-1.1 per cent) in April, and the unemployment rate rose 0.6 percentage points to 8.1 per cent.
The number of Canadians working from home grew by 100,000 to 5.1 million.
The number of employed people working less than half their usual hours increased by 288,000 (+27.2 per cent).
Total hours worked fell 2.7 per cent in April, driven by declines in educational services, accommodation and food services, and retail trade.